Today I want to talk about selling different types of prospects. Here is a misconception sales people have. Sales people think that every sale they make is the same. In other words all they have to figure out is their pitch. Once they have their pitch down they are going to be able to sale anybody. Well that is actually not true. Sorry to burst your bubble if you thought you had the perfect pitch. The problem is a pitch may work well with one person, but will not work well with a different person. So one thing I want to encourage you to do. Especially those of you who are a little more advanced, maybe you are already making 6-8 sales a month and you want to get to 20 sales a month, learn to match your prospect. Here are three different types of prospects:
Sometimes you walk into the business and have someone who is enthusiastic and loud. With that type of business owner you need to be outgoing. You need to be excited. If you are immediately stepping back and acting timid, they are going to think, “Who is this person. I don’t want to deal with them.” Instead you have to walk in and say, “Hey, I am doing great! It is great to meet you. I am a local business owner just like you. How long have you guys been here?” Jump right into a active conversation.
On the flip side you might have someone who is really quiet and they speak in a monotone voice. Now to that person you are going to say something like, “Hi, I just stopped by today because I really just wanted to introduce myself. I am a local business owner. We have our business just downtown here in Altoona. How long have you guys been in business here?” Have that measured tone to your voice in this situation. If they like to talk, talk about something. Talk about things in the local community. Try to find things that are not argumentative. Maybe things like the local sports team. Local things that are non-partisan. Things that are not religious in nature. Things that are not going to cause something like a big argument. Have a conversation with them and talk to them a little bit, then move over to what you are trying to sell them.
You also have people that don’t want to talk. These are people that are your “go-getters.” That’s how I am. If you are a sales person and you come to try and sell me at my office, I would want you to tell me what you wanted and I would probably spend about five minutes with you. Then I would make a decision if I would want to meet with you again or not. That’s how I am at work. A lot of business owners are like. For those people they hate someone coming and talking slow. Mr. Jones is thinking, “Oh, my goodness, I have things to do…”
I will give you one of my personal sales stories and I will finish up. Probably one of the first big sales I made was with a guy that had four pizza shops and I sold all four locations. I walked into his pizza shop at about 8:30 in the morning. He was there and a few of his employees were there. They were getting ready for the day, they were not open for business but the door was unlocked. So I walked in and as soon as I did he turns around and looks at me and says, “What do you want?” I said, “I want to do your credit card processing.” He said, “What are your rates?” I said, “Cheaper than yours.” He looked at me and said, “Alright, what can you do?” I told him I needed a credit card statement and he said he didn’t have one handy. I asked him if he could get me one later in the week to which he told me to come back Thursday. I said, “Alright, I will be here Thursday at 8:30am.” I left. I was probably only there for about 2 minutes. Came back Thursday morning walked in at 8:30am on the dot. He handed me a statement and said go see what you can do and come back. I was there for about another 2 minutes. I got the analysis I came back and we sat down at a table. He was a little more relaxed then and I said, “Here is what I can do for you.” The whole style of the sale was really straight to the point. I said, “I am going to save you this much money.” What questions do you have for me? I let him be in control. (Ask business owners what questions they have and let them be in control of the conversation.) They like that control.
So the idea I want to give you today is if you are doing pretty good with sales and have your opening pitch down, start matching your prospects. This will definitely have a big impact on your sales.
Have a great day,
James Shepherd
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